Are there vultures in the city?
Ravens maybe?
“I, uh, need you to come get me,” I manage to say just above a whisper.
“Where the fuck are you?” he asks roughly, and I unstick my forehead from the counter to peek up at the ox.
“Where the fuck am I?”
She rattles off an address, and when I can’t repeat it right after a couple tries, she yanks the phone from my hand and tells August where to find me before hanging up.
I tuck my phone back into the pocket of my black jeans and close my eyes. The room is spinning, and I feel nauseous. I’m just so very, very tired.
I didn’t even drink all that much, by my standards at least. But the meds compound the effects and my blood sugar is probably too high. I dosed myself with insulin a few hours ago but I probably need more. Fucking diabetes.
And it also doesn’t help that I’m not sleeping at night.
Sleeping is for losers.
Who needs it anyway?
When I open my eyes again sometime later, I see August pulling me up into his strong arms. Those green eyes narrowed at me in disappointment. I feel a stab of shame in my chest and have to look away. I stare instead at his perfectly combed honey-brown hair and his lightly stubbled square jaw. The guy looks like a goddamn Abercrombie model.
After an afternoon of throwing back shitty Mai Tais with Babe the Blue Ox, I probably look like a zombie extra from the set ofThe Walking Dead.
I want to keep looking, but I can’t keep my eyes focused. They cross, and I know I look ridiculous, but I can’t seem to do anything about it. So, I just press myself further into his muscular chest and breathe him in.
Damn, he smells good. He smells clean and pure, like fresh laundry and soap. He’s always justso damn perfect.
When I blink awake once more, he’s buckling me into the backseat of his car, and I see his tiny friend looking at me with a frown from the passenger seat. I want to mumble something, to tell him to keep his judgements to himself, but fuck, my eyelids are made of bricks.
My head lolls back on the leather and all I can do is pray that I’m not drooling. I tell myself I’ll just rest for a bit and then I’ll feel better.
Shit, was I wrong.
Bad. Bad idea.
I awake gasping, a loud ringing in my ears, and my head in a vice. The smells from my dream dissipate almost immediately, but I can still recall them.
Urine. Vomit. Pine-Sol.
I blink rapidly past the sting in my eyes and glance around. I’m in an unfamiliar space and start to panic because it’s so fucking dark, and who knows what’s lurking in the shadows. My anxiety amps up as I imagine what’s waiting for me….
But then, through my pounding heart and my fuzzy vision, I sense someone. I turn and see August asleep on the bed next to me. He’s a few inches away but I can still feel his soft, warm breaths on my neck. Suddenly, my tension recedes and my entire body feels calmer and yet, more awake. It’s a weird fucking feeling, the reactions within me in complete disagreement. But at this point, I’m almost used to it with him. He does things to me that make me feel like I’m losing my mind. And he does it all just by existing.
I stare at his relaxed face for a minute, my dick twitching shamelessly in my pants, my heart rate evening out. He looks so peaceful. Like a fucking angel. If only some of that light and goodness could extend into me, then maybe I’d make it through this life a little healthier, a little happier.
But then reality snaps back into place.
Enough of this,I think, as I rummage in my pocket for my phone. As much as I want to, I can’t stay here. I can’t fall back asleep and risk letting him see what my nightmares do to me. It’s too embarrassing. I gotta keep it together. He’s going to be my fucking brother in a couple months.
“Lex,” I whisper as I stumble out of the bedroom, tripping on a frilly rug. “I’m going to send you my location. Come get me.”
PARTONE
4 Months Later
CHAPTERONE